Reviewed Works Islam in Modern History

7/24/2019 Reviewed Works Islam in Modern History

1/4

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ReviewAuthor(s): Charles IssawiReview by: Charles Issawi

Source: Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 73, No. 2 (Jun., 1958), pp. 307-309Published by: The Academy of Political ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2146111Accessed: 08-07-2015 09:56 UTC

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2/4

No. 2]

REVIEWS

307

Despite

its

weaknesses,

his is a valuable

book,

of

particular

interest o studentsof Israeli public and economicadministra-

tion,

as well as to

all interested

n

governmental

roblems

of

new states.

ABRAHAM

M.

HIRSCH

WASHINGTON,

D. C.

Islam

in

Modern

History.

By

WILFRED CANTWELL

MITH.

Princeton, rinceton

University

ress,

1957.-x,

317

pp. $6.00.

Islam Inflamed:A Middle East Picture.

By

JAMES MORRIS.

New York, Pantheon

Books,

1957.-326

pp.

$5.00.

The two

books

under reviewhave little

n

common

except

the

word

Islam

in

their titles. In

style, pproach

and

content

they

differ

undamentally,

nd whereas Professor mith's

book

will remain for

long

an

indispensable

work

in

the

field,

that

of

Mr.

Morris

will

most

probably

be soon

forgotten.

Professor mith,

Director

of

the

Institute

of

Islamic Studies

at

McGill

University,has been

closely

studying

the

Islamic

worldfor some twenty-fiveears, nd has a thoroughknowledge

of

at least two

of its

leading

languages,

Arabic and Urdu. He

is

fullyaware of the

importance,

nd has

attempted

o

analyze

the

operation,

of two sets of

forces

hat

are

shaping

the

Muslim

world:

the religious,

including Islam,

Christianity

nd Hin-

duism, and

the

socio-political,

ncluding

nationalism, ndustrial-

ism,

Marxism

and

democracy.

He is

bold, deep

and

incisive n

his

thinking,

ut

without

a

trace

of

arrogance,

nd

clear,

vivid

and

often

eloquent

in

his

style. The result s

in

many

ways the

best book on the subject since H. A. R. Gibb's Modern Trends

in Islam

of

1947.

The first

hapter

deals with Islam in

History and

contains

suggestive

ew

interpretations f

the course of

medieval

Islam;

its

central

thesis s the stress aid

by Islam

on

righteous

ction

by

and

through he

community,

nd

hence on

the

historical roc-

ess,

which

is

that

community

n

motion.

By

ignoring om-

plexities,

one

might

arrange

representatives f

these faiths n a

graded

series

as

follows:

the Hindu, for

whom

ultimatelyhis-

tory s not significant; he Christian,forwhom it is significant

but

not

decisive; the

Muslim,

for

whom it

is

decisive but not

final; the

Marxist,for

whom it is

all in

all.

The second

chapter

covers

Islam in

Recent History

,

and is

followed

by area

studies.

The

Arabs:

Islamic

Crisis brings

out

very

well

the social and

political

problemsof

the

Arabs and

their

nationalist and

religious

responses.

Turkey:

Islamic

Reformation

studies the

impact of social

changes in that

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3/4

308

POLITICAL

SCIENCE QUARTERLY

[VOL.

LXXIII

country

nd

raises

two fundamental

questions:

Can

a

non-

Christian nation be a memberof Westerncivilization? and

Can

one

generate

a

Reformation

by

fiat?-even

when

provid-

ing the milieu?

Pakistan: Islamic

State

discusses the

diffi-

culties faced

in

the

attempt

to

build on

Muslim bases

a

state

capable

of

coping

with

contemporary roblems.

India:

Islamic

Involvement

describes the

unique

position

of the

Muslim

minority

n

these terms: Muslims

have

either

had

political

power or

they

have not.

Never

before

have

they

hared it

with

others.

The

concluding

chapter

deals

very

briefly

with

Other

Areas .

There are

a

few

slips

in

the

book;

for

example,

the

fall

of

Czechoslovakia to communism is

put

in

1952

(p.

105);

and,

naturally, this

reviewer

disagrees

with

certain

interpretations,

such

as,

that the

power

of the clerics

n Pakistan seems to

have

been

overstressed. But

these are minor

criticisms

f

what

is,

to

repeat,

an

outstanding book

by

a

learned,

intelligent

and

thoroughly

enetrating

cholar.

Like

Professor

mith,

Mr.

Morris

writes

very

well,

but

there

theresemblance nds. He is no scholarbut a journalistwhohas

managed

to

producefour

books

in

three

years.

Taking

full

ad-

vantage of

modern

transport,

e

has

flitted

from

Juba

in

the

south to

the

Caspian

and

feelshe

has

to

give

a

wider

public

the

benefit f

his

impressions.

Many of

these

mpressions

re vivid

and

some

are

amusing,

especially those of

the

Arabian

sheikh-

doms,

which

readily

lend

themselves

o

burlesque.

Hence

the

reader

who

is

not

unduly

bothered

by the

distinction

between

Dichtung

and

Wahrheit

mayget

a

good

deal of

fun

out of

this

book.

But

those

who

really

want

to

learn

something

about

the

Middle

East

will

have to

turn

elsewhere.

It is not

merelythe

factual

errors,

hough

there

re

plenty f

these.

Take

economics

for

example:

Egypt's

annual

per

capita

income is

put

at less

than

$28

(p.

23)

instead of

$100.

Iraq can

look

ahead to

Scandinavian

standardsof

comfort in

only a

decade

or two

(p.

285).

This

conclusion

s

not

surprising

n

view of

theasser-

tionthat Iraqi agriculture lone can produce an annual income

of

twelve

million

[presumably

billion]

dollars-about

$3000

annually per

capita

(p.

288).

Or

take

history:

Tamerlane's

capture

of

Damascus

(1401 A.D.)

is

placed

in

the

twelfth

entury

(p.

122).

Iraq's

medieval

population is

put at

35

million

(p.

285).

In

the

Middle

Ages, cultural

exchanges

between

Arabs

and

Europeans

are

said to

have

taken

place

by

way

of Spain

and

the

Danube

Basin

(p.

122)-one

can

imagine

the



4/4

No.

2]

REVIEWS

309

Kulturtraeger

rudging

heerfully

hroughhordes of

Pechenegs,

Bulgars,Magyars nd otherDanubian devoteesof culture. But

all

this

is

forgivable.

XVhen,

owever,

Mr.

Morris

reports

the

following

conversation

n

Lebanon, 'What

feast

day

is

this?'

I

asked

the

taxi

driver.

'Christmas

friend,'

e replied

without

smile

(it was

the

middle of

July)

p.

110),

and when

one recalls

how

religious and

conscious

of

feast

days

are

all

Lebanese,

one

really

begins to

wonder.

The

truth s

that

Mr.

Morris does

not like

the

Middle

East

of

today.

If

it had

only

consented to remain a

museum

piece he

would have beenhappy. For, one of thegreatpleasuresofthe

Middle

East is to

encounter a

tribe of

Kurds on

the

move

looking

ike

a

community f

unusually

cheerful

brigands ross-

ing

a

steppe to

commit an

atrocity

(p.

278).

Unfortunately,

things

have

changed;

for

nstance,

Arabs often

made

excellent

mechanics nd

machine

workers nd

adapted

themselvesll

too

easily to

the

industrial

ife

(p.

251).

And

by

the

same

token,

Middle

Easterners

nd

other

Asians will

not

like

Mr.

Morris'

book.

Indeed,

if

anyone

wants to

understand

why

the

West

is so

cordially isliked n Asia, all he has to do is glancethroughslam

Inflamed-a

horribletitle

but

one

for

whichnot

Mr.

Morris

but

presumably

is

American

publisher

s

responsible.

CHARLES

SSAWI

COLUMBIA

UNIVERSITY

The

Union

of

Burma: A

Study

of

the

First

Years

of

Inde-

pendence.

By

HUGH

TINKER.

Issued

under

the

auspices of

the Royal Instituteof InternationalAffairs, y OxfordUni-

versity

Press,

London,

New

York,

Toronto,

1957.-xiv,

424

pp.

42s.;

$6.75.

In

1942 John

L.

Christian

rought

ut

his

masterpiece,

Modern

Burma.

Enlarged

and

reissued

n

1945

as

Burma

and

the

Jap-

anese

Invader,

t

stands s

the

definitive

urvey

f

pre-war

urma.

For

the

period

from

1945

on, in

which

Burma

won

her

inde-

pendence and

launched

herself

nto

the

international

commu-

nity,

no

full-scaleworkon Burma has been published to bringChristianup to

date.

The

one

collective

ffort,urma

by Frank

N.

Trager

and

Associates

New

Haven,

1956),

has

so far

had

only

very

imited

distribution.

Dr.

Hugh

Tinker,

of

the

University

f

London,.has

filled

this

gap,

providing a

first-rate

tudy

of

contemporary

urma

which

will

stand

with

George

Kahin's

Nationalism

and

Revolution

in

Indonesia as

a

classic

in

Southeast

Asian

studies.

n

The

Union


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